Chapter 5: Inter-VLAN

Routing

Routing And Switching

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 Chapter 5
5.1 Inter-VLAN Routing Configuration
5.2 Troubleshooting Inter-VLAN Routing
5.3 Layer 3 Switching
5.4 Summary

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 Chapter 5: Objectives
 Describe the three primary options for enabling inter-VLAN routing
 Configure legacy inter-VLAN routing
 Configure router-on-a-stick inter-VLAN routing
 Troubleshoot common inter-VLAN configuration issues
 Troubleshoot common IP addressing issues in an inter-VLAN routed
environment
 Configure inter-VLAN routing using Layer 3 switching
 Troubleshoot inter-VLAN routing in a Layer 3 switched environment

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 Inter-VLAN Routing Operation
What is Inter-VLAN Routing?
 Layer 2 switches can’t forward traffic between VLANs
without the assistance of a router
 Inter-VLAN routing is a process for forwarding network
traffic from one VLAN to another using a router

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 Inter-VLAN Routing Operation
Legacy Inter-VLAN Routing
 In the past, actual routers were used to route between
VLAN
 Each VLAN was connected to a different physical
router interface
 Packets would arrive on the router through one through
interface, be routed and leave through another
 Since the router interfaces were connected to VLANs
and had IP addresses from that specific VLAN, routing
between VLANs was achieved.
 Simple solution but not scalable. Large networks with
large number of VLANs would require lots of router
interfaces
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 Inter-VLAN Routing Operation
Router-On-A-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
 The so called router-on-a-stick approach uses a
different path to route between VLANs
 One of the router’s physical interfaces is configured as
a 802.1Q trunk port. Now that interface can understand
VLAN tags
 Logical subinterfaces are then created. One
subinterface per VLAN
 Each subinterface is configured with an IP address
from the VLAN it represents
 VLAN members (hosts) are configured to use the
subinterface address as a default gateway.
 Only one of the router’s physical interface is used
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 Inter-VLAN Routing Operation
Multilayer Switch Inter-VLAN Routing
 Multilayer switches can perform Layer 2 and Layer 3
functions. Routers are not required anymore
 Each VLAN existent in the switch is a SVI
 SVI are seen as layer 3 interfaces
 The switch understands network layer PDUs and
therefore, it can route between its SVIs just as a router
routes between its interfaces
 With a multilayer switch, traffic is routed internal to the
switch device
 Very scalable solution

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 Configure Legacy Inter-VLAN Routing
Preparation
 Legacy inter-VLAN routing requires routers to have
multiple physical interfaces
 Each one of the router’s physical interfaces is
connected to a unique VLAN
 Each interface is also configured with an IP address for
the subnet associated with the particular VLAN
 Network devices use the router as a gateway to access
the devices connected to the other VLANs

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 Configure Legacy Inter-VLAN Routing
Preparation

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 Configure Legacy Inter-VLAN Routing
Switch Configuration

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 Configure Legacy Inter-VLAN Routing
Router Interface Configuration

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 Configure Router-On-A-Stick
Preparation
 An alternative to legacy inter-VLAN routing is to use
VLAN trunking and subinterfaces
 VLAN trunking allows a single physical router interface
to route traffic for multiple VLANs
 The physical interface of the router must be connected
to a trunk link on the adjacent switch
 On the router, subinterfaces are created for each
unique VLAN on the networ
 Each subinterface is assigned an IP address specific to
its subnet/VLAN and is also configured to tag frames
for that VLAN

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 Configure Router-On-A-Stick
Switch Configuration

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 Configure Router-On-A-Stick
Router Interface Configuration

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 Configure Router-On-A-Stick
Verifying Subinterfaces

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 Configure Router-On-A-Stick
Verifying Subinterfaces

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 Configure Router-On-A-Stick
Verifying Subinterfaces

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 Configure Router-On-A-Stick
Verifying Routing
 Access to devices on remote VLANs can be tested
using the ping command.
 The pingcommand sends an ICMP echo request to the
destination address
 When a host receives an ICMP echo request, it
responds with an ICMP echo reply
 Tracert is a useful utility for confirming the routed path
taken between two devices

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 Inter-VLAN Configuration Issues
Switch Port Issues
 When using the legacy routing model, ensure that the
switch ports that connect to the router interfaces are
configured with the correct VLANs
 Use the switchport access vlan 10 command to
correct any errouneous VLAN port assignment
 Also ensure the router is connected to the correct
switch port
 When using router-on-a-stick, ensure the switch port
connected to the router is configured as a trunk link
 The switchport mode trunk command can be used to
solve this problem

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 Inter-VLAN Configuration Issues
Verify Switch Configuration

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 Inter-VLAN Configuration Issues
Verify Router Configuration
 With router-on-a-stick configurations, a common
problem is assigning the wrong VLAN ID to the
subinterface
 The show interface command can help detecting thi
problem
 If this is the case, use the encapsulation dot1q <vlan
id> interface command to fix the problem

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 Inter-VLAN Configuration Issues
Verify Router Configuration

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 IP Addressing Issues
Errors With IP Address And Subnet Mask
 When using legacy inter-VLAN routing, ensure the
router has the correct IP address and mask on the
interfaces connecting to the switch
 Also ensure the network devices are configured with
the correct IP address and mask
 In the router, the ip address command can be used to
fix any erroneous IP assignements
 In the PCs, refer to the installed operating system
documentation to properly change IP information

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 IP Addressing Issues
Verifying IP Address And Subnet Mask Configuration Issues
 To verify if the correct IP address is configured in the
router, use the show ip interface command
 The show running-config can also be useful when
troubleshooting router related problems
 Although configuring subinterface IDs to match the
VLAN number makes it easier to manage inter-VLAN
configuration, it is not a requirement. When
troubleshooting addressing issues, ensure that the
subinterface is configured with the correct address for
that VLAN.

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 Layer 3 Switching Operation And Configuration
Introduction To Layer 3 Switching
 Layer 3 switches usually have packet-switching
throughputs in the millions of packets per second (pps)
 All Catalyst switches support two types of Layer 3
interfaces:
• Routed Port
• SVI

 High-performance switches, such as the Catalyst 6500

and Catalyst 4500, are able to perform most of the
router’s functions
 But several models of Catalyst switches require
enhanced software for specific routing protocol feature

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 Layer 3 Switching Operation And Configuration
Inter-VLAN Routing with SVIs
 Today routing has become faster and cheaper and can
performed at hardware speed
 It can be transferred to core and distribution devices
with little to no impact on network performance
 Many users are in separate VLANs, and each VLAN is
usually a separate subnet
 This implies that each distribution switch must have IP
addresses matching each access switch VLAN
 Layer 3 (routed) ports are normally implemented
between the distribution and the core layer
 This model is less dependent on spanning-tree as there
are no loops in the Layer 2 portion of the topology
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 Layer 3 Switching Operation And Configuration
Inter-VLAN Routing with SVIs (cont)
 By default, an SVI is created for the default VLAN
(VLAN1). This allows for remote switch administration
 Any additional SVIs must be created by the admin
 SVIs are created the first time the VLAN interface
configuration mode is entered for a particular VLAN SVI
 The interface vlan 10 entered by the first time creates
an SVI named VLAN 10
 The VLAN number used corresponds to the VLAN tag
associated with data frames on an 802.1Q
encapsulated trunk
 Whenever the SVI is created, ensure that particular
VLAN is present in the VLAN database
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 Layer 3 Switching Operation And Configuration
Inter-VLAN Routing with SVIs (cont)
 SVIs advantages include:
• It is much faster than router-on-a-stick, because everything is
hardware switched and routed.
• No need for external links from the switch to the router for
routing.
• Not limited to one link. Layer 2 EtherChannels can be used
between the switches to get more bandwidth.
• Latency is much lower, because it does not need to leave the
switch.

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 Layer 3 Switching Operation And Configuration
Inter-VLAN Routing with Routed Ports
 A routed port is a physical port that acts similarly to an
interface on a router
 Routed ports are not associated with any VLANs
 Layer 2 protocols, such as STP, do not function on a
routed interfac
 Routed ports on a Cisco IOS switch do not support
subinterfaces
 To configure routed ports, use the no
switchport interface configuration mode command
 Note: Routed ports are not supported on Catalyst 2960
Series switches.

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 Layer 3 Switching Operation And Configuration
Configuring Static Routes on a Cat2960
 The Cisco Switch Database Manager (SDM) provides
multiple templates for the 2960 switch
 The sdm lanbase-routingtemplate can be enabled to
allow the switch to route between VLANs and to
support static routing
 Use the show sdm prefer command verify which
template is in use
 The SDM template can be changed in global
configuration mode with the sdm prefer command

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 Troubleshooting Layer 3 Switching
Layer 3 Switching Configuration Issues
 To troubleshoot Layer 3 switching issues, check the
following items for accuracy:
 VLANs
• VLANs must be defined across all the switches
• VLANs must be enabled on the trunk ports
• Ports must be in the right VLANs

 SVIs
• SVI must have the correct IP address or subnet mask
• SVI must be up
• SVI must match with the VLAN number

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 Troubleshooting Layer 3 Switching
Layer 3 Switching Configuration Issues
 To troubleshoot Layer 3 switching issues, check the
following items for accuracy (cont):
 Routing
• Routing must be enabled
• Each interface or network should be added to the routing
protocol

 Hosts
• Hosts must have the correct IP address or subnet mask
• Hosts must have a default gateway associated with an SVI or
routed port

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 Chapter 5: Summary
 This chapter covered Inter-VLAN routing, the process of
routing traffic between different VLANs, using either a
dedicated router or a multilayer switch.
 It discussed Legacy, router-on-a-stick and multilayer
swtiching inter-VLAN routing.
 The chapter also covers Layer 3 switching, SVIs and
routed ports.
 Lastly, troubleshooting inter-VLAN routing with a router
or a Layer 3 switch were discussed. Common errors
involve VLAN, trunk, Layer 3 interface, and IP address
configurations.

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